The blogger largely credited for popularising gender-reveal parties has encouraged people to “stop having these stupid parties” after one sparked a wildfire.
This week, it was revealed that one of the California wildfires, which has since grown to nearly 10,000 acres, was started during a gender-reveal party.
According to officials, a “smoke-generating pyrotechnic device" used at the party sparked the El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino County.
On Monday, Jenna Karvunidis, who runs the blog High Gloss And Sauce on Facebook, urged people to stop hosting the potentially dangerous parties.
“Oh my god NO. The fire that evacuated parts of California is from a GENDER REVEAL PARTY,” Karvunidis wrote. “Stop it. Stop having these stupid parties. For the love of God, stop burning things down to tell everyone about your kid's penis. No one cares but you.”
The mother-of-three continued: “It was 116 degrees in Pasadena yesterday and this tool thought it would be smart to light a fire about his kid's d***. Toxic masculinity is men thinking they need to explode something because simply enjoying a baby party is for sissies.”
Karvunidis also acknowledged hateful messages she’s received since officials identified the gender-reveal party as the reason behind the fire, writing: “Oh, and of course I'm getting hate messages. Excuse me for having a cake for my family in 2008.
“Just because I'm the gender reveal inventor doesn't mean I think people should burn down their communities,” she added.
Karvunidis’s post prompted an outpouring of support, with many applauding her for speaking out against the trend she is credited with starting.
“Thanks for posting this. You are right. It’s gone overboard,” one person commented.
Another said: “Thank you for speaking out. I certainly don't blame you for this and I would hope others don't either. You did not go out and set off a smoke bomb in a park with dry brush around during a heatwave.”
Karvunidis began the trend in 2008 when she and her husband invited friends and family over to watch the couple cut into a cake to find out the gender of their unborn baby.
“I just thought it would be really fun for everybody in the whole family to find out,” she told NPR last year of the moment the couple found out they were having a girl by the pink icing.
However, this is not the first time Karvunidis has condemned gender-reveal parties. In 2019, she argued against the trend on Facebook in a viral post, writing: “I've felt a lot of mixed feelings about my random contribution to the culture. It just exploded into crazy after that. Literally - guns firing, forest fires, more emphasis on gender than has ever been necessary for a baby.
“Who cares what gender the baby is? I did at the time because we didn't live in 2019 and didn't know what we know now - that assigning focus on gender at birth leaves out so much of their potential and talents that have nothing to do with what's between their legs.
“PLOT TWIST, the world's first gender-reveal party baby is a girl who wears suits!”
According to CNN, as of late Monday night, the El Dorado fire was only seven per cent contained.
In 2017, a similar catastrophe occurred when a gender-reveal party sparked a wildfire that grew to span more than 47,000 acres.
